With no live cricket on the horizon still yet, we get a chance to look back on the events of a day in Calmore Sports history on 22nd May. If you were wondering what happened to ‘On This Day’ yesterday (21st May), it was a very wet day across history and there wasn’t much to reminisce about! But we are back now and we start with a Sunday friendly.
Sunday friendlies these days are very much a thing of the past but in 2011, they were still just about breathing as we headed the four miles down the road to Cadnam for some delightful cake and scones and a bit of cricket. The home side batted first and Paul Jewer’s side made 184-7 from their 40 overs with Luke Evans hitting 23 before edging behind to wicket-keeper Ben Perry off Luke Johnson and then Perry had a bowl and snared 3-15 despite Pete Biddlecombe’s unbeaten 45. You couldn’t keep Pez out of the action as he crunched 53 with the bat and with Mark Lavelle 44, we were going quite nicely. That was until the wickets started to tumble all too readily and we found ourselves nine down, still needing 17 with 12-year-old Calum Bailey and 14-year-old Tom Houlder at the crease. The equation came down to one to win off the last ball and Tom cracked it to the boundary to bring home a one-wicket win! Who was it that said you never win anything with kids??
It was 10 years ago that we had our last Saturday league game – 22nd May 2021 is scheduled to be the next one – and we welcomed Portsmouth and Southsea to Loperwood Park in SPCL Division 3 in 2010. The visitors chose to bat first and might have wished they hadn’t as they proceeded to be rolled for just 96 in 42.2 overs as Paul Cass took 4-19, Paul Proudley 2-18 and Michael Wallace returning 10-5-13-2 in the rout. We had little trouble chasing it down as Mark Archer hit 46 and Darren Vann a 40-ball unbeaten 41 as we won with 33.2 overs to spare.
However, while we were hammering P&S’s 1st XI, their 2nd XI were dishing out a similar sized hammering to our 2s by 120 runs down at St.James Hospital. Mike Cotton won the toss and put them in and then watched them total 257-8 in their 42 overs with Luke Johnson returning 3-35. Daniel Croft took 3-70 in his 9 and Mark Gardner 0-66 in 9 as C.Rippin smashed 76 in 51 balls. Ben Perry hit 31 but we found ourselves 65-9 before Roy Walton (41 off 47b) and Croft (28*) put on 72 for the tenth wicket but it only took us to 137 and a heavy loss. And back at the Old Ground, the 3s beat Highfield 2s by 3 wickets thanks to some impressive performances from Alan Provins, Paul Galbraith, Kevin Gardner and Dave Rose. Provins took 3-18 in his 10 overs and Galbraith 2-42 as the visitors hit 179-8 which we overhauled with over 10 overs to spare – Gardner crashing 14 fours and two sixes in his brutal 75 and Rose, in his typical fashion, cracked 48 with 5 fours and three sixes!
In 2004, the 1st XI were in SPCL Division 2 and we got our season off and running at the fourth time of asking (two wash outs and a loss to Burridge seven days previously) with a comprehensive win over a strong Sparsholt side by 63 runs. Skipper James Hibberd won the toss and chose to bat first and top scored in his sides’ total of 235, James Lucy falling to the last ball of the 50 overs. Hibberd hit 51 and received excellent support from Stuart Bailey (38), Charlie Freeston (33) and Mark Archer (28) which set the visitors a stiff target. Removing Tim Richings for 12 and Jeremy Frith for 14 was key although Hampshire’s James Schofield and Ryan Mannix both recorded half-centuries before they crashed from 125-3 to 172 all out as John Wall (4-39) and Mark Boston (3-47) did the damage. Interesting to note that the captain didn’t have a bowl in the second innings …. too much tea?
Down in Regional 3 South-West, the 3s were up against Pylewell Park 2s and were beaten by 2 wickets in a low-scoring classic which few who haven’t seen the scorecard would probably not believe! We batted first and only Steve Dunn’s 18 and James Fox with 15 recorded double figures with the exception of a brilliant 60 from wicket-keeper Paul Bowring, which contained nine fours and two sixes as we only reached 113 all out. However, the hosts were pegged to 56-6 and 80-8 by the rather unusual (or enter your own description here) opening bowling pairing of Martin Perris and Jeff Tyler! Perris took 2-47 and Tyler 3-40 and coupled with 2-11 from Paul Henry, they were in trouble but were saved by their ninth wicket pair.
It was a home game in 1999 when a player, returning to Loperwood for the first time since leaving that winter under a bit of a cloud, would help his new side to a 51-run victory. It was a home game with BAT Sports (as they were called still then) and after Colin Pay hit 42 and smaller contributions through the innings from the others, it was the 39 at number eight by our very own Nigel Hill that proved crucial in their 187-9 in their 50 overs. All six bowlers took a wicket with Mark Boston’s 4-36 the pick. We sank to 32-4 in reply before Tom Pegler (41) and skipper Martin Kellaway (53) save us hope. That was extinguished by former Hampshire spinner Richard Dibden who rushed out the lower order with 4-40 to secure the win.
Meanwhile, the 4s were up against nomadic outfit Camelot at the glorious Millbrook Rec in New Forest One and lost by 2 wickets despite some stellar performances with both bat and ball. Opening the batting, Paul Grinham smashed just over half of our total – hitting 71 out of our 140 all out. What would have been disappointing was that he and Pete Lavelle (18) shared a stand of 79 for the first wicket only to see us crash from 115-3 to 121-9. Chasing the 141 to win, Tony O’Connor steamed through the top order, taking 6-34 – all of their top six. But it wasn’t quite to be despite Grinham’s 2-6 at the end.
Any mention of Waterlooville around Loperwood Park normally brings some out in a sweat – thankfully that episode isn’t for quite a while yet! There was no such fears in 1993 in County One when we travelled to Rowlands Avenue and won with ease by 73 runs. Stuart Bailey’s 69 was the backbone of our decent 205-9 with 42 from Paul Draper and 31 from Rob Budd helping the cause. Dominic Newman reduced them to 0-2 in the first over and they were tied up by Graeme Lyon (2-22) and the spinners Draper (3-31) and Kevin Marshall (2-30).
The Third XI that day were at King’s Somborne and it was a day out for the club’s veterans – seeing these names in 1993, you would have thought it was a first XI game from the late 70s/early 80s! Jimmy Gill top scored with 73*, Terry Chilcott hit 64 and Mike Kellaway 33 as we made 190-3 in our 42 overs. Tony O’Connor returned figures of 10-4-14-3 and Dave Morgan 3-18 as the home side ended 127-8. Paul Grinham bowled 8-3-9-0 …. he wasn’t old, just seemed like it! The Ralgex got a good airing that night ….
Two games on a Thursday night? Not a problem back in 1986 as the 1s lost a nail-biter to Esso Fawley by 1 run in the Noel Fisher Memorial Trophy with Stuart Bailey and Baz Oram both being run-out in the last over trying to get over the line but the 2s beat Plessey-Roke Manor by 3 wickets in the Mottisfont Knock Out – Pete Tudberry taking 2-17 and Michael Newman making 15 in the chase.
Our first ever league match on this day came in 1976 when one of the county ‘big names’ came to the KGV in County Two. Hursley Park, who had future Calmore President Mike Kellaway and his brother Rick in the side as well as Chris Westbrook were knocked over for just 46 in 33 overs as Michael Newman returned 11-5-13-5 and Tufty Taylor 8-4-6-3 in the bowling effort. We took only 9.4 overs to knock them off – Ben Lyon 16*, Bob Wilcocks 14* and Paul Hoskins 10 seeing us in.
The 2s lost that day though – but only just and, with a bit of support, might have won up at Andover 2s. Dave Snellgrove took 3-65 in Andover’s 176-7 before Reg Oliver hit 41 in the reply. When Steve Lock was ninth out, we were still 68 runs away from victory. Maurice Geary, not really renowned for his batting, hit four fours and a six in his 38 not out and Snellgrove three boundaries in his unbeaten 20 as they put on 50 for the last wicket but time and overs ran out and we lost by 17 runs.
The last one today is in 1988 and it was a friendly match at Loperwood Park against a side called Southampton Touring Club (not to be confused with South Hants Touring Club who became Portsmouth CC in the 1980s) in a declaration game. Stuart Bailey hit 77 from 115 balls and Rob Budd 44 in a quicker 55 as we reached 211-7 from 48 overs before a tea time withdrawal with H. Longman returning 4-59 and Ian Tulk 2-67 from 12 overs. It was to prove not a challenging enough target for the Old Tauntonians-inspired outfit with John Barnard smashing an unbeaten 96 and Colin Day 37 as they got home by five wickets – Billy Sims 2-38 and Steve Brandes 2-71 in 14 overs the wicket takers.
